Musings Of A New Southern Man

I am a good writer. I can relate facts and figures and feelings easily. I can craft new characters, although I am working hard to improve that skill. It is the greatest skill a good author needs. I am good at creating dialogue. My plots are strong. I thought that was all I needed to break into this literary world. Oh, I was so wrong. An author needs to learn a new language. It is the publishing language. It is putting all those writing skills into something that agents and editors will recognize and take under their wing. Being something familiar helps. I rolled my eyes at comments by a particular agent who says he filters potential candidates first by seeing where they got their MFA degree and then by whether they had an Ivy League diploma. That was troubling because I have neither an MFA degree nor an Ivy League diploma. But I am trying to learn that common language. The novel I am revising and the second novel I have under construction both speak that language better than my e

How naive was I when I started sending out query letters? So naive that I wrote an early blog entry about how good some rejection letters were. Note to self: Rejection is rejection. The fact an agent uses nice words doesn't improve that. It's like the woman who nicely deflects a marriage proposal. "But you are the one I want to spend the rest of my life with?" "You are the best person I know, and the funniest, and the one with the best insight into who I am. But we just aren't made for each other. Good luck finding the right person. Good night." Yeah, it's something like that.

Time for some soul-searching. I will look back at the 10 best lessons I learned while venturing into this publishing business. The first lesson? Do better research on the name of a blog. I started out with a really good idea for a blog. I was going to create a forum for all those struggling writers who hammer away without getting a publishing deal. I thought I had a really good title, too. The First-Timers. The name fits. All those writers who are aiming for their first publishing contract seemed like fertile ground for a blog. Am I right? Probably. I just didn't check out the name thing first. Something called "The First-Timers" doesn't first bring to mind the publishing business, according to Google. That title is reserved for something much more intriguing, like first-time sexual experiences. Hmmm, Google is going to like that subject matter. My blog on the publishing business? Not so much. The current name, "Fingertips on Keyboard," was born ab

I haven't posted a blog entry in a long time. I know that. I understand the need to build a platform. I will build that platform in the best way I can right now, which is by revising the manuscript for my novel. After all, they say the best way to sell a book is through great writing. Let me explain my long absence on this blog. My literary endeavors are whittled down to working on revisions. Video blogs? Can't fit them into my schedule. This blog? Difficult to do. You see, I am working two jobs these days. I am the managing editor for nine regional "hyperlocal" publications in the Denver metro area. It is a full-time job. My second job is being editorial director for woodypaige.com, the online entity for The Denver Post's colorful and successful columnist. I have a certain amount of social media duties involved in both of those jobs. Add in my time spent on revisions and that cuts "available time" to the absolute nub. Here's the good part, tho

I have had an enlightening past several days. I did a line-by-line edit on my 375-page manuscript, looking to tighten here, add a little there, take out extraneous words, add personality clues -- you know, all those items that make a work more complete. What did I learn? Oh, let me tell you. I learned I use two words far too often. They are "just" and "very," and they are just very unnecessary in almost every case. I left a couple cases of "just" in because they add the immediacy factor to events. "Very" disappeared entirely. I learned the little asides I inserted in an earlier edit weren't needed. It was a needed nip-and-tuck. I learned I needed to ramp up the tension in some chapters. I added more peril where peril was needed. I learned my final chapter is pretty good. It gives an intimate look at my protagonist, and he is an interesting man to get to know. What can I tell you? He is retired military. He has a distinguished record.

It's still not right. No, not my novel but my blog picture. Have ... to ... get ... it ... right ... soon. This one isn't bad. Neither was the previous one. I simply hasn't hit the perfect tone yet. It's like having a paragraph in a novel that needs work. I tweak here. I tweak there. Finally it all comes together. I'm sure it will happen one of these days. WHAT I'M READING NOW: "The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein. He's a Pacific Northwest writer, and that's my geographical background. He also works with one of my favorite agents, Jeff Kleinman, and Stein is creative and daring enough to make a dog the narrator and protagonist. I'm not sold on Stein's pacing, but I'm only a third of the way through the book. I eagerly await the later chapters. Of course, I keep Donald Maass' how-to guide about writing the breakout novel near me at all times. I also finished Jeffery Deaver's "The Cold Moon" and enjoye

I have to do this again because the song fits my writing life so well. I think almost every novelist feels the same way. Thank you, as always, Paul Simon.

I started talking about the need for a powerful query letter when I started this blog. I said I could not tell you exactly what a perfect query letter is. What can I tell you several months later? Same thing. Writing query letters is an inexact science. It becomes exact science only when you hit the right agent with the right words at the right time. Do you want evidence to show just how important that query letter is? It is the method by which most writers get to enter the kingdom of the publishing houses. It is a very exclusive kingdom, by the way. Forget the scores of books you see on the shelves of a Barnes and Noble or any other bookstore you enter. Those scores of books hide millions of queries that authors fastidiously crafted but ended up being kicked to the curb. What main things have I learned? Let's try these: Know your material. Be so in tune with what you have written that you can detail it and give a glimpse at the reasons you wrote it. That in turn casts ligh

I have not been bad about writing lately. I have been absolutely terrible about blogging. So, here goes a quick update. I have stepped back from sending out queries about my second novel, at least for a couple of weeks. I saw two agents post items on Twitter or their blogs that changed my thinking. One agent, Evan Gregory, said the number of agents who actually work in August is usually down. It's a big vacation period, and even agents need vacations. Fancy that!!! Agent Kristin Nelson in Denver gave a short note in a recent blog about loving to tackle that big workload in the winter. Summer brings thoughts of good things to do -- other than dive through queries, read manuscripts, etc. Heck, I understand that. Give me swimming pools and barbecue grills over streams of unedited copy every day of the week. So, take those two agents' comments together and I made a decision to wait. My writing has been going great. I am tweaking former works here and there. I am full speed ahea

I am among the Coloradans who woke up Friday morning and faced the news of the shootings at the Aurora theater. We sat there stunned as we heard radio reports, or saw the first videos, or scanned the Internet accounts on DenverPost.com and other venues. We ached. We wondered why. We hurt. We wondered why some more. We worried about those still in critical condition. We prayed for families who lost someone in the shootings. We prayed for ... what? ... a hand of guidance so things like this won't happen again, knowing fully that they will. Why does it take something like this to shake us awake? Why do we need multiple deaths to make us feel the heartbreak of loss? I don't want to sound like some morose thinker, but I have wondered about these questions. I put some of those into a small part of my first novel. My protagonist, Sean McNabb, is dogged by those questions. He says we see evidence of death every day, from obituaries to stories about murders, suicides and fatal accid

I am on a roll with the third novel. Maybe it's because this writing process is kicking into gear, or I'm simply learning HOW to write better. Maybe those are the same thing. Anyway, I am having a blast right now. I just can't tell you much about it. Here's one thing: I have made a tweak on my story line. Remember my post about selecting Moonlight Beach in Encinitas as the setting for my first chapter? I decided to move farther down the road to Swami's Beach. There are reasons I can't go into here. I want to get back to that area for a visit soon. It is such a beautiful part of the country, and it's been too long since I've been there. Walking through a neighborhood on The Strand south of Coronado or serving as part of the crew for a yacht race on San Diego Bay are among some of my greatest memories ever. What I am reading: The Reversal by Michael Connolly. I love the fact he's a former journalist. I also love the fact he can write a crime/cour

It took awhile for all the dust from the carnage of my job loss to quiet down. Now that it has, I have settled back into the routine I love, the one in which I spend several hours a day being an author. It is good to have a certain degree of normalcy in my life. No author will give details about what he or she is writing, but I will give a brief overview. I am a West Coast guy, so I focus my plot in familiar surroundings. There is not a single place I write about I have not visited or been exposed to by stories of people who have lived there. Part of that is because of one of the central tenets in my writing -- make the settings so familiar to readers that they can easily identify with them. I am a fan of Stephen Spielberg's early films, movies like "Duel" and "E.T.", because they take average folks in average surroundings and make them face amazing circumstances. The viewer then is taken along for the ride. I owe part of that tenet to writers such as Harlan

I did it. The urge finally got too strong, and I had to do it. I sat down and wrote two chapters in my third novel!!!! Maybe that doesn't sound like much, but it's a pretty good achievement considering the rest of my schedule lately. Losing your job puts a considerable crimp in a normal writing routine. I have been feeling like a juggler who gets tossed a new task every day. Sending out queries for my second novel. Job applications. Questions about a new job at The Post. Sending out resumes. Using my reporter skills to get a good handle on what exactly happened at The Post in those maddening days when the company needed to collect severed heads in a basket and call them "voluntary resignations." It's not a pretty story in some instances ... but that's to be saved for another time. Why wait? Because I'm back to writing the stuff I love to write. I will forge on with another chapter or two today, then I will get back to continuing the outline for my stor

I apologize for not posting anything lately. I have been a little busy. You know those problems new authors say they have about juggling allotted time between crafting their works of fiction and their day job? Well, I can say from recent experience that the burden of time between tasks is much more daunting when it involves writing fiction and dealing with LOSING your day job. The Denver Post says I am out the door on June 15; I have a difference of opinion, but that will wait for another day. Part of my workload has been making contacts to determine  ... well, no details as of right now. Much of my workload has involved combing through job postings, then turning in applications for potential jobs. Some of the applications involve a good deal of time to connect all the dots. Add to that the stress of potentially losing my livelihood of more than 37 years and I think you can understand my angst. My fiction hasn't gone untouched. I have started outlining the second novel in my se

My latest novel has four main settings. I am familiar with each, and I try to let my readers feel each location. Authenticity is such a beautiful asset to any novel. My settings are: Downtown Denver. I have worked there for more than six years, and I know the details of the exact location where my action takes place. I also drove to the location and researched small details. Suburban area north of Seattle. I selected the town of Mukilteo because I stayed there and thought it was one of the lovely parts of the Puget Sound area. I put my protagonist in a pretty upscale area of a beautiful Pacific Northwest location. San Francisco Bay Area. I use Candlestick Park, where I have been about 40 times, and the northern Napa Valley town of Angwin, which I know from my working days in nearby Santa Rosa. There are little details about Angwin I will use to bolster reasons why one specific supporting character chose that exact spot. Los Angeles and areas of the San Fernando Valley. I know t

Almost every author has a day job, save for those chosen few who are blessed enough to do the job they love for a profitable living. Well, my day job is collapsing, and so is some of the rest of my world. An explanation is needed. I am a copy editor at The Denver Post, which is joining the parade of narrow-minded thinkers who decide that copy editors are the most expendable part of the publishing enterprise. I disagree strongly, but it's not my newspaper. I am under pressure to put in my resignation (the pressure being an enhanced insurance package for six months) and then walk out the door. I am not alone _ 16 or 17 other copy editors will join the unpopular exodus. OK, the obvious question: Now what? First, I have kept a good attitude about all this. Well, there was yesterday when the impact of all this hit me. That, however, was a momentary lapse. Today I am focusing my efforts on building new revenue streams, to put it in the language of those who sever jobs for enhanced pr

One of my lessons from the Pikes Peak Writers Conference was Joe Lansdale's advice to me to become a voracious reader. To put Lansdale's point in simplest terms: A writer can become great by reading other great writers. The writer-as-reader learns the art of it all that way. He knows that from his own experience. I had a cardinal rule when I was writing a novel: I did not read any other works. That meant for seven to 12 months I didn't pick up a work of fiction of non-fiction. I am mending my ways. I am juggling reading three works right now, one fiction, one non-fiction and one educational. The fiction is Harlan Coben's "Live Wire" so I can see how a great mystery writer handles his work. My non-fiction is Antonio Salinas' "Siren's Song: The Allure of War" so I can drink in the atmosphere of a soldier on the battlefield. My educational work is Donald Maass' "The Breakout Novelist". I will give a short breakdown on each work.

I have a lot of Christian friends. I know a lot of them have delicate sensibilities about certain topics. As a service to them, I hereby issue a warning about the novels I write. They will draw an R rating, and some chapters will have a very hard R rating. I don't do this to shock people. I do it because I want my characters and situations to be real. Do people have things in their past of which they are embarrassed? Of course. We all do. I put some of those things into my novels. Do we do things now that are morally ambiguous? Some people do; I try not to be one of them. Do we live in a world where those around us are obscenity-spewing louts? Yes we do. I put some of those things into my novels. Are there horrendous actions done that make even jaded people wince? Yes, and I put some of those things into my books. My main character in my second novel is a squeaky clean guy with the exception of the things he does that are at the very center of the action. Does he swear? He make

I could go on and on about things I gleaned from my weekend immersion in the Pikes Peak Writers Conference in Colorado Springs. I met great agents such as Evan Gregory and Paige Wheeler, a genial and talented editor for Titan Books named Steve Saffel, gracious romance writer Susan Wiggs and a bevy of published and aspiring authors who are as committed to their love of writing as I am. But four mentors stand out, and I talk about them in no particular order of importance. Donald Maass, head of his own literary agency and the man who literally wrote the books on how to become a great writer. (I purchased "The Breakout Novelist" and will drink in his lessons like I am on a feeding tube.) Don's greatest attribute is his burning passion for great writing. He brought challenges to every writer in the room during a lunchtime keynote speech about his view of publishing and its impact on the future. I also sat in on his teaching session of Agenting in the 21st Century, which end

No, I am not overhyping the event with my title. This will be my second Pikes Peak Writers Conference, and if this one comes close to the quality of the first one I will be a happy man. But here's the secret. I think this one might be even better for me. My first conference was a beginner's experience. I focused a lot on the proper ways to do a pitch session, which is an eight-minute, face-to-face meeting with an agent during which you try to sell your novel and gain representation. I went through one pitch session and received a request for a partial manuscript. OK, that's not extensive experience, but I am comfortable with the format. I have a pitch session this weekend with Evan Gregory, an agent for Ethan Ellenberg in New York City. Evan is an intelligent and thoughtful young man, and I am looking forward to the opportunity to meet. My focus this year will center more on the business of being an author. I will center on subjects such as the branding of a writer, inc

I am not one of those people who can blog while I am going full-bore on a writing project, which explains my silence over the past couple of weeks. Well, going full-bore is part of the explanation. Taking eight days of vacation and spending a wonderful time with family in South Carolina explains the rest. I left my computer and flash drive behind. That doesn't mean I stopped working on my book. Several of my quiet times in the Carolinas were spent going over scenarios and rethinking ways I approach a certain scene. I juggled ideas. I spent middle-of-the-night time going over plot twists. I hit the ground running when I returned to Colorado. The past several days were spent rereading, rewriting and tightening. I love the work. My goal of having the novel ready to pitch will be met. I have a pitch session scheduled during the Pikes Peak Writers Conference later this month. I will be ready. I can blog later. Thanks to my friends who have sent me notes of encouragement. Your supp

I wrote a few weeks ago of my hesitancy to get my work critiqued. I am not some haughty author who thinks his work is above reproach. I just have misgivings about certain authors I have talked to even having a clue about the kind of material I write. I welcome critiques from a good source, but I am leery of certain sources. Add in the fact that my day job is on a swing shift schedule, and that shoots down all those evening sessions so many writers groups love. But I am open to having my work hammered, praised, helped, prodded and poked. Nothing made me more interested in that than a critique I received on my first novel when I entered the Pikes Peak Writers Conference fiction contest. I received two critiques, and one of them was a gem. The review came from someone with lots of experience in the trade, and I suspect it was an agent or an editor with a publishing house. He/she was very detailed, which is great. Here's a capsule look at the review: 1. You take too long to establi

I will let a post I left on Rachelle Gardner's excellent blog (here's a link to Rachelle's entry: http://www.rachellegardner.com/2012/03/do-authors-have-a-right-to-be-paid/#comment-304639 ) carry the day on my own blog. There are some issues here on which I just felt the need to comment. Here is my comment: There are so many issues here, but I will center on the most obvious one. Anyone who is honest knows the key is women readers, who make most of the purchases. (I thought Rachel's article about Pinterest was particular interesting on this note.) And ... and I may be stepping on some toes here ... those readers are being fed by an industry where more and more women agents hold the keys to the kingdom. Are you a romance writer? Great. There is a strong market for that, with almost all of it driven by women. Do you write mainstream? Better have a good hook for women. I ran into problems in trying to market my first novel. The main story line sounds dark and ominous

My blog has been neglected for the past several days, but I have a very good excuse. I have been pouring out the final chapters of my second novel. I still have four or five chapters to go, so this message will be short and sweet. I am pumped!!! by my progress. The chapters I am writing are those ideas that have been there for months, and now it's time to let it all flow onto the page. What a marvelous time. More later. Thank you all for being my friends.

Launching a literary career teaches a lot of lessons. So does blogging. A list of everything I have learned would be a little daunting, so I will center on three things that stand out. 1) Be careful what you name your blog. My first title was The First-Timers, playing off the idea of first-time authors trying to get inside the velvet rope of the publishing industry. Bad idea. That title put me in a surprising number of websites that talk about first sexual experiences. Where does an author's blog find a home against that kind of competition? About the 22nd page on a Google search. I switched to Fingertips on Keyboard, which describes exactly what this part of my life entails. Pouring My Heart and Soul Onto a Page might be better, but it's rather cumbersome. 2) Selecting a proper agent and writing a good query letter are absolutely vital. The two cannot be separated. An agent might have the best track record in the business, but he or she must be a good fit for me and my wor

Any author needs to fully invest in the characters he or she creates. Your characters have to walk with you when you are away from your computer, and then they are ready to be unveiled during your writing sessions. It's a strange relationship between reality and fiction, but one that is vital to character creation. On that note, I encountered a bit of problem in starting my newest novel. It has an entertaining opening chapter, and there are good following chapters that fill in gaps in my main character's basic psychological makeup. But as I wrote, I didn't have that connection ... that deep conviction ... that is required. That has changed. Why? It's a basic fact of writing fiction: Protagonists need antagonists. My first chapter centers on just such a meeting between protagonist and antagonist, but that conflict is resolved by the end of the chapter. The protagonist then slips in what seems like comfortable surroundings, all safe and secure. The story line doesn

I have to admit I have had a little help in my writing sessions for the past few weeks. No, I haven't asked a noted author to serve as ghost writer. I have invited Mozart, Beethoven, Rossini, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky and many of their friends along for the ride. Their help is invaluable. It is a matter of creating the correct atmosphere to write. I have some unwritten rules when it comes to music while I create. First, no lyrics. I don't want words from a song distracting me. Second, the music has to fit who I am. I have heard from one author of horror stories that he loves to have heavy metal or hard rock playing. Good for him, but it's not a fit for me. Third, the music has to lead me along. As much as I was raised on Clapton, Hendrix, et al, the classical composers form a bond with me. Maybe it's my upbringing. I thank God I had parents who presented me with a wide range of performances to view when I was very young. We saw Polish dance troupes and Scottish marching b

Lots of authors flock to their local writing club, etc., in part for a chance to join critique groups. I avoid them. It's not that I'm afraid of criticism. I'm a journalism copy editor, so I know the application of criticism is a valuable tool. I just think that critique groups, like so much of the publishing world, tends to pen authors into a middle ground and rejects the truly original. There is a second part to my hesitance. I know my first novel will be trimmed and bolstered by an agent and editor, and I am fine with that. In both cases, I tip my hat (and lower my tendency for hurt feelings) because the input comes from professionals. The critique group? I don't see that level of professionalism there. Let me illustrate. I sat down with another author and gave a short synopsis of my first novel. That novel has two story lines, is complex, my characters are conflicted and challenged constantly, the plot wanders across genres as I create little vignettes in both s

My blog has suffered, weighed down by holidays, job responsibilities and lots of time spent on writing my second novel. It's time to break through the malaise. Do other authors who deal with violence have trouble writing those scenes? I have to be honest: I am no Stephen King. I don't feel comfortable with a parade of situations in which somebody gets whacked. However, as an author, I have to occasionally write such scenes. And when I write such scenes, I find myself with two realities. The first is that discomfort in facing the situation. The second is that the scenes are very easy to write once I enter into them. Go figure. I just completed a scene with a high level of violence. It's not Hannibal Lecter-level violence, but it concerns circumstances that will make anyone wince. Why? Because the principal antagonist in my second novel is that much of a bad ass. I have to prepare a counter to my antagonist in order to provoke tension and set up all the "black mome